First of all, I LOVE LOVE Megan's post from last Monday (when she filled in for me--thanks, Megan). That last paragraph? I'm going to frame it, I think, because I need to read it every day.
Secondly and on a much lighter note, I would like to share with our readers something NOT to do with your four year-old child. If you are having a stressful week and you give your son more fruit snacks (and other sugary things) than usual, and your baffled son asks you "WHY?"...don't tell him you are giving him those things because you are stressed out. BECAUSE, when the stressful week is over, and you are trying to feed your son better things, it might go something like this:
"Mom can I have soda?"
"No."
"But, Mom, you are REALLY stressed out. Can I have soda?"
(The answer is still no.)
So there is a level of honesty we must keep in check with our children because later they might use it against us. (Funny, but I think my kids eat more sugary things when I'm stressed than I EAT when I'm stressed. How does that even make sense? Guess it keeps them quiet.)
So how do you keep your kids in check when life gets crazy? More TV? Send them out back? Lock them up?
Yeah, I think I allow more sugary treats AND I try to send them out to play. For some reason it never seems to work. It's like they have a built in radar - when I they KNOW I need some quiet time they are busier and closer than ever! lol
ReplyDeleteI never really put stress and my children and sugar together before. But it is true! I use candy to buy a little more time to take a test or finish writing a chapter or some other stressful thing.
ReplyDeleteI must pay more attention! Do you think if we offered them celery and made them do chores when we were stressed they'd run and hide instead of pestering us?
My kids definitely get more tv and computer time. It's when I'm finally done with my business that I realize, "Hey, you've been on the computer for 2 hours??!!" I usually get mad at them but mostly at myself for not monitoring them better. But then they say, "But I was on an educational site!" And it makes us both feel better, even though we both know it probably shouldn't have happened anyways!! LOL! But, hey, that's life!
ReplyDeleteMoms. We feed them sugar when WE are stressed. We make them put on a sweater when WE are cold. We're just weird! And I always make them go outside and run. And when they're finished that, run some more. It always makes me feel better!
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